Cohesive zone modelling of delamination response of a composite laminate with interleaved nylon 6,6 nanofibres

This work simulates numerically Double Cantilever Beam and End Notched Flexure experiments on Carbon Fibre Epoxy Resin specimens that have been performed by some of the authors in a previous work. Specimens have been nanomodified by interleaving plies with a layer of electrospun nanofibres in the delaminated interface. Eight different configurations of nanofibres have been used as interleave, for a total of 9 configurations (8 nanomodified plus the virgin one) to be simulated for both kind of tests to identify the cohesive zone parameters corresponding to the effect of nanofibre diameter, nanolayer thickness and nanofibre orientation on the delamination behaviour of the composite. Results showed that a bilinear damage law is necessary for almost all nanomodified configurations, and presented a clear relationship between nanomat layer parameters and the cohesive energy of the interface. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.